Practical Practitioner
By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE
Children are at Risk for Rype 2 Diabetes
If you have type two diabetes, your child, grandchild, niece or nephew might be at increased risk for type two diabetes as well.
An alarming epidemic is striking Americans, and it’s costing our nation billions of dollars every year.
More important, it’s devastating the lives of many of our young people and robbing them of their health and well-being.
Type two diabetes, formerly considered a disease of older people, is now being diagnosed in the young in unparalleled numbers.
In addition to having a family member with type two diabetes, lifestyle characteristics can put children and teens at higher than average risk for type two diabetes.
High-risk characteristics include:
- Going through puberty.
- Being in a particular ethnic group. (African Americans, Mexican Americans/Latinos, American Indians/Native Alaskans and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders are at highest risk.)
- Having insulin resistance. Some of the signs include high blood pressure or high cholesterol or triglycerides. Another sign of insulin resistance is a skin condition called acanthosis nigricans. This causes certain areas of the skin-generally at the neck and armpits and in areas where there are skin folds-to be darker and thicker than on other parts of the body. Skin with acanthosis nigricans looks as if it is dirty.
- Being born small or large. Children who are born small (less than 5 pounds) and children who are born large (greater than 9 pounds) at full-term are also at higher risk. (Larger babies are generally born to women who have had gestational diabetes during pregnancy.)
- Girls who suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome.
- Being overweight. Children at or above the 85th percentile of the body mass index are considered to be at risk for overweight. Children above the 95th percentile are considered overweight. (BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
It’s well known that adults who eat too much and are not physically active are courting type two diabetes. Unfortunately, the same applies to children. Being a couch potato is not healthy for anyone.
Kids and adults eat too much saturated fat, the kind found in French fries and other deep-fried foods, as well as in hamburgers and other red meats.
They also consume too much simple sugar – carbohydrates – the kind found in candy, cakes, donuts and regular sodas.
In fact, they eat too many high-calorie, low nutrient foods in general, such as potato and corn chips or other high-fat snacks, and they consume unhealthy food portions. Super-sized sandwiches served at fast-food chains are not the way to go!
With the sharp rise in computer and Internet games, as well as the hours spent in front of the TV, too many of today’s kids have abandoned the playground and the athletic field.
Why wait for type 2 diabetes to develop?
It’s so much better to prevent it in the first place by encouraging and enabling kids to adopt healthy habits as early and as quickly as possible.
What more precious gift could you give to a child you love.
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